Friday, August 12, 2011

I received the following email this morning, which I will re-print in full (anonymously), below. Essentially, the allegation is that the Chevy Chase Women's Republican Club is hosting a meeting with disgraced radio host and former Congressman Fred Grandy, and purportedly using anti-Islamic rhetoric. I can find no evidence of the anti-Islamic rhetoric, but I did find out more about the event in question.

Fred Grandy is a former member of the U.S. House from Iowa, but he is better known as "Gopher" from the television series the Love Boat. He recently gained notoriety after being fired from his most recent gig as a morning radio personality on WMAL. Grandy's increasingly anti-Muslim show was pushed off the air after on-air comments his wife made:

Mann-Grandy, who did a regular segment called "domestic terrorism 101," hit a string of topics on their show last Friday. Though the segment was taken off the radio's site, she described it. She said that, on air, she quoted a rabbi who compared radical Muslims to Nazis, complained that President Obama was not doing enough to help Israel, warned that "Shariah-compliant" individuals work in the government and discussed several other Islam-related topics.

Interestingly, other organizers of Fred Grandy events have apparently cancelled, leading the fredgrandy.com website to label the events, "cancelled by political correctness." Still on the calendar, however, are two events of note: "Creeping Shariah Panel" in Annapolis and the Chevy Chase Women's Republican Club event on September 27th.

Here is the original email tip:

I'm not sure if I should tell you this or not but I think someone should write about this. Personally, I am an advocate for freedom of assembly and freedom of speech but this is just plain old wrong.

A man walked into my work place and handed me a piece of paper telling me, "I had to do something about this."

The piece of paper was a facebook invitation to an anti-Islamic meeting, held by the Chevy Chase Women's Republican Club.

I didn't believe it at first because I couldn't fathom any human being doing such a vile thing.

So I did some research...

The speaker at the event is a former congressman and radio host Fred Grandy. I did some research on him and found out: On March 3, 2011, Grandy resigned from the program over a dispute about his and his wife's statements about radical Islam. His wife allegedly made several disparaging comments including comparing muslims to Nazis and was subsequently asked not to return to WMAL.

Just to make sure there was a tie between this event and the former Congressman.

The women who created this event is named Jeanette Radford. When I searched for her name on Facebook she was on private so I couldn't find her. I wasn't going to message her, but I just wanted to make sure she was real. I couldn't find her so I Facebook searched Montgomery County (MD) Republican Party. I found out she was the administrator of the Facebook page.

I know I shouldn't get involved but this is just so disturbing. I am so disgusted by what they are trying to do. I'm sorry again for bothering you. But I just needed to tell someone, something has to be done.

The anonymous tipster above believes in free speech, as do I -- the Maryland GOP should bring whatever speakers it deems appropriate. However, the anonymous tipster also believes "someone should write about this." I agree! Be careful who you get in bed with. Is this yet another sign that the Maryland GOP is drinking the extremist Kool Aid?

I knew that some Republicans were extremists and anti Mulims. I am ready to excersize my right of protest and make every effort to embarass thick skin Republicans. Better yet I want to get invited to the event and ask them pointed questions.

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This blog predates my campaign committee and is substantially unrelated to electioneering, but just in case, you can consider certain posts "By Authority: Friends of David Moon. Chair: Marlana Valdez. Treasurer: Usman Ahmed."